Still Safer Than Hogwarts
by rene3037769
Summary: Hermione likes to read. She has always liked to read. Her longtime hobby leads her to her next adventure. Strangely enough, Hermione finds that traveling to another galaxy is turning out to be a lot like going to Hogwarts. Maybe a bit safer though.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Stargate

Daniel Jackson was beyond frustrated as he once again stood from the chair he had been sitting in for an indeterminate amount of time in order to search for another reference book; one that would probably once again prove to be worthless. He had been granted time off from Jack, just for the week, in order to search the British Library for any references to any writings that could refer to the Ancients or Atlantis.

He had been astounded to have come across a picture in one of their old catalogs that had shown the library had a copy of a small manuscript with examples of writings that some old explorer had found painted onto the walls. One of those had looked like Ancient and Daniel would have been there later that same day had it not taken days for Jack to approve the trip to England. Sadly, he still only had the one week to try and find anything useful.

Honestly it would have taken longer for him to have gotten permission if Jack had not felt slightly guilty for not allowing Daniel to join the Atlantis Mission. Daniel had no problems on guilt tipping his old friend to speed up the process of getting the approval for this trip. They had just found the actual address for the lost city and added one more member to the team; one that had the ATA gene and could use the Ancient technology, but Jack still would not allow Daniel to join. He was needed here in this galaxy or something. Daniel rolled his eyes at his current thoughts before shifting his attention to another shelf in the small study room that he was currently sharing with one other person.

Daniel had been surprised when he had been lead to the small study room that was dedicated to some of the more obscure languages that the library had writings on. He had expected to have the room to himself but had found a petite woman with curly brown hair already seated at the table in the middle of the room with a few different books spread out in front of her. When he had taken a seat at the other end of the table she had glanced up and given him a soft smile before turning her attention back to her books.

They had been sitting in the small room together now for a few hours now without talking. Daniel periodically breaking the silence as he pushed his chair back so that he could get up to search for another reference book in the hopes of finding a mention of the Ancient's language. So far he had found nothing and was feeling frustrated.

Shifting over so that he was now standing behind the woman that was sharing the room with him, he started looking on the shelf right behind her in the hopes that something would jump out at him as though to say. 'Pick me! I have all the answers.' Snorting internally at the turn his thoughts had taken yet again, Daniel shook his head and glanced over at the woman to see if he had disturbed her with the noise he was making. He seriously needed to focus and stop letting his thoughts drift.

It looked as though she was still lost in her own little world. He gave a little smile in relief that he had not annoyed his tablemate before he turned his attention back to the bookshelf. Moments later, his eyes widened and he snapped his head back in her direction so that he was once again looking towards the woman. The notebook that she was making notes in were covered in what looked like Ancient mixed with some writing he had never seen before mixed in with what could be other ancient Earth languages.

Straightening up as quietly as he could, he moved a bit closer so that he could see what else the woman had in front of her. Aside from her notebook, of which he could identify four ancient languages intermixed with the language of the Ancients and English, there was a hand bound book that looked to be extremely old and fragile. Daniel had to bite his tongue to keep from cursing out loud as he recognized that, not only was the book written in Ancient, but there was a gate address written on the left page.

After backing up a few steps and taking deep breaths to calm himself down, Daniel made his way back over to the table and pulled out the seat next to the woman. "Ahem." Daniel smiled as the woman looked up at him with her brows raised in question. "I am sorry to interrupt you, but I could not help but notice that you are currently working on a book with a language I have only seen in a few locations. I am Doctor Daniel Jackson; I am an archaeologist and linguist.

The woman just blinked before looking down at her book for a moment. When she looked back up to Daniel, he could see that she a bit startled at being interrupted and was having a bit of trouble pulling her mind back into the here and now. It was odd to see the expression his teammates picked on him about on someone else. She blinked a few more times before Daniel could see that she had finally processed his introduction.

"Hello. Doctor Hermione Granger. Archaeology sounds fascinating. I try and keep track of the reports from the different expeditions if possible." She looked down at her notes for a moment before turning her attention back to Daniel. "You said that you have seen this language on some of your digs? I am also a linguist but I have never met anyone that had seen this particular language." It did not take a rocket scientist to tell that she was surprised at the thought of someone coming across the language anywhere.

"Yes. I have been trying to translate the small samples I have come across, but have not had much luck as there was not a lot of the writing available to come to any conclusions. You can imagine my surprise that I have just stumbled across someone that seems to be able to read it like it was written in English."

Hermione chuckled as she closed her notebook and the book she had been working on before she pulled them closer to herself. Daniel watched her stack the books she still had on the table and tried not to panic. He had to get this woman talking and needed to make sure that he did not come across as many academics did. He could well remember how Steven Rayner had acted when the Osiris jar had been found.

"How did you come across an actual bound book? The only samples I have come across have been carvings or paintings." She looked at him for a moment before sighing and settling back in her chair while fidgeting with a ring on her left hand.

"I am not surprised that you have found so few writings. It is a very old language. It is a precursor to what we would now call Ancient Latin." Hermione looked up and saw the completely fascinated expression on the face of the man that had introduced himself as a fellow linguist and could not help but to satisfy his curiosity. "It was only used by a small group of people, so it was never as widely used as the Latin. Such a shame too; it is much more lyrical in my opinion. The Alteran were a very advanced people and their language reflected that, so it is also a bit more complicated than Latin as well."

"Alteran?" Danial could not quite hide the excitement in his voice.

"Yes." Hermione smiled at the excitement he was displaying. It was always a joy to find someone that could be excited over something as simple as an obscure language. "That is what they called themselves. As to how I came to have such a book, well that is a bit convoluted. The Alterans tended to isolate themselves from others; not wanting anyone to use their knowledge in ways they did not approve of. They felt that other people should have to work for their knowledge instead of having someone give it to them. So they passed their knowledge down through their families. Eventually, only those families that were the…holders of their knowledge were still able to read, write or speak the Alteran language, and they continued to pass everything down. Unfortunately, even they came to a point that they could no longer understand what was being passed down. I guess they just thought that it was no longer that important and so they stopped teaching their children. They did however continue to pass down the writings they had. When one family would die out, the writings would always be passed on to one of the other families that had collections as well as it had been written for the original covenants which had been passed down orally as well as renewed within each bequest."

Daniel was just staring at Hermione with wide eyes. Hermione smiled as she wondered if she had broken the poor doctor.

"I went to a boarding school when I turned eleven, and there I started to do a lot of self-study. I have always found languages to be easy having already been fluent in five languages by then. One day my friends and I were called up to the Headmaster's office. While we were waiting for him I started to look thorough his bookcases to read the titles. I could not help myself. One book caught my attention, and when the Headmaster came in I had already lost myself in the book. After he had talked to us about the bit of trouble we had found ourselves in he asked that I stay for a few moments. When my friends had left, he asked if I was able to make anything of the book and was quite surprised that I had been able to pick out some words here and there. Because of that, he loaned me a few books and asked that I translate them as a side project. It was not until I was finished with the books that he told me that they were written in a language that even he could not read. He said 'If you need something done, then give it to someone that does not know that it is impossible.' He said that languages were my gift, and so he began to lone me other books in the hopes that I would be able to read them."

"Professor Dumbledore eventually told me that he was the last living member of the families that had been collecting the knowledge, at least as far as he knew at the time. I did not realize it, but while I had been trying to translate the books he had loaned to me he had been researching my family. You see, the book and knowledge could only be passed on through family or to another family that was entrusted to be keepers of the knowledge. The legal documents were very clear and ironclad. It really did not matter how the connection was made in the end, but the professor was the last of his line and he no longer knew of any family members that would have been able to carry the legacy for him. He was able to find a connection for me though. It was pushing the boundaries of the rules set forth in the previous wills, but he was able to leave everything to me. I found out when I was sixteen and he died."

"I…What?" Daniel asked incredulously.

Hermione just laughed at his expression. "It's the truth. That is how I came to be in possession of this book." Hermione softly tapped the cover of the book in question.

"So your professor was a descendent of these…Alterans? And you as well?"

"Well yes." Hermione was puzzled at the baffled expression on the Doctors face. "You of course realize that it is not all that odd. Being an archaeologist, you must know that being a descendant of one of the ancient peoples is fairly common. The only odd thing about it is that he could trace his linage back that far because of the surviving records that came from people trying to keep their history alive as long as they could. I imagine that there are many people that share my ancestry but that are completely unaware. I was very lucky that the professor could remember the names of the other families that had been entrusted as a keeper of the knowledge."

"I guess that makes since. So you have connections to the Alterans." He was glad that she was looking at her book again and therefore missed the calculating look he was giving her. _I bet she has the ATA gene._

"Yes. Dumbledore was able to find out that one of my ancestors on my father's side was actually a second child of one of the other families. My ancestor had been separated from the main branch of the family due to...a family disagreement. He then married and his children and so forth never knew their heritage. I was quite shocked when I found out when the lawyer gave me the letter explaining my inheritance. I had also heard of the Dagworth-Grangers, but I had been completely unaware of the connection. I was very thankful though. I had new knowledge about my heritage and also access to even more books in ancient languages."

"So you were here translating this book?" Daniel said while softly tapping the cover of the book she had closed earlier.

"Oh, no. Today actually I was comparing some myths about a creature across different cultures." Hermione could see the curiosity spike within Daniels eyes.

"What creature? What did you find out?"

"Well. Alright. Have you ever heard of a Basilisk?" Daniel blinked at her while his eyebrows tried to disappear into his hairline. She began to carefully pull other books that were also hand bound out of her bag. She stacked them as she spoke, only putting one to the side as she glanced at the covers. "So you have heard of them. Well, I wanted to see how close the mythos was for the creature across different cultures. I checked a few references that I had. There was the Alteran myth, of course. Then I found references here for an Old Norse legend, Greek, and this one for an old Germanic myth. They were all basically the same myth." Hermione smiled as she stroked the cover of the topmost book for a moment. "I thought that they would be vastly different mythos for each culture, but they were surprisingly in sync; something I have not seen very often while comparing different mythos across cultures."

Daniel pointed to the book she had set to one side. "What about that one?" He was surprised when Hermione made a face at the book as though it had offended her. She placed the other books back into her bag before opening that book and turning it so that Daniel could see it. Daniel found himself once again biting his tongue to keep himself from cursing out loud. The book was written in Goa'uld.

"This one is not about Basilisks at all. I should have checked it more thoroughly before bringing it, but I guess I was in a bit of a hurry to get here today. This is a sub-dialect of Ancient Egyptian. Pretty much this is just a story about the evil git that set himself up as the serpent god Apep." Hermione had an odd smirk on her face as she looked down at the book. "Apparently he thought he should be so feared that no one would say his name, thus he became the original He Who Must Not Be Named. Eventually he was overthrown as all evil bastards must be and died only for someone else to decide to take his place; Some idiot calling himself Apophis. It takes a true egomaniac to set themselves up in the image of a god."

"Fascinating." Daniel could not think of anything else to say. He had been hoping that she would not have been able to read it, but at least she had not said anything about aliens yet. She did have an uncomfortable amount of knowledge about Apep and Apophis though. _Shit, she is probably censoring herself. She may have already read something about the Goa'uld._ While desperately hoping that he was wrong and that she knew nothing about the state of the galaxy he tried to find something…anything else that he could say.

"I suppose. Unfortunately there will always be idiots like that; ones who want the world to bow down and worship at their feet." Daniel was thankful that she spoke and saved him from having to come up with something witty to say but was surprised at the faraway expression that crossed her face as she spoke. She sighed and packed away the book just as carefully as she had the others.

"The book you were working on earlier, is it just a book on mythology and mystical creatures.?" Daniel did not want her to walk away without getting more information on what she knew about the Ancient writing.

"Sort of, I guess it could be construed that way. It reads like a collection of stories, but not really like the myths you would see from the Roman or Egyptian cultures."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if it had been written in English, they could be read like modern day fiction. Here, take this story for example." Hermione carefully flipped through the book until she found the passages she wanted before turning the book towards Daniel. "This is one of my favorite stories in this book."

Daniel had to clear his throat a few times before he could say anything. He was once again looking at a gate address, but this one he recognized. It was the address to the Nox world. "What is it about?" He was proud that his voice gave nothing away about his current panicky feelings.

"It is a love story. A girl and boy fall in love but are forbidden from being together by the girl's father. Because they love each other they run away together through the astria porta to Munita Portum ad Omnis or safe haven for all. There they hid from the girl's father. The father of course tracked them down, and saw the boy as he had stepped out of the safe area provided by this world's native peoples. The father, furious at the thought that this boy dared to think he was worthy of his daughter, immediately tried to kill the boy with…a weapon. As in any good story, the daughter saw her father aim at the boy she loved and jumped in front of him and was killed instead. Greif stricken, the father and the boy began to grieve together; they found their common ground in the death of someone they both loved. While they were grieving, the people native to the lands used their knowledge to heal the girl from her wounds and brought her back to the two grieving men. They were so happy to have her back that they put aside their defenses and pretty much lived happily ever after. I suppose it is kind of early Romeo and Juliet but with a better ending." Hermione smiled as she looked up at Daniel.

It took a few moments for him to realize that she had finished telling him about the story. Hesitating only for a moment, he reached over and tapped the section that held the gate address. "What does this say? It is complete different from the rest of the text." He honestly did not know how he wanted her to answer but she had clearly already read something that explained the Stargate if she knew that it was called the astria porta.

"Oh that is the name of the world in the story. Munita Portum ad Omnis."

"How did you manage to translate that?" Daniel was still trying to assign sounds to the different glyphs but had only a few references from the last time that Jack had been speaking the Ancient language thanks to the repository being downloaded into his brain. Unfortunately there were some times too many or too few syllables to work correctly.

"The Alterans had a lot of time on their hands apparently. This writing here is made up of symbols that have sounds and meanings assigned to them. This is probably going to be difficult to explain." Hermione looked at Daniel as though trying to gage whether or not it was worth it to try and explain the symbols or not. "I will try to explain the best I can. Stop me if you get confused." Hermione waited for him to nod his agreement before she opened her notebook and found pages that were covered in different symbols. One set he could clearly recognize from the Stargate system they used to travel the galaxy. Daniel was once again biting the inside of his lip and tasting blood from the effort it took to keep silent and calm.

"Alright, there are three basic generations of symbols that are used as world names. Funnily enough, they correspond to different locations in the night sky as well. They used a type of math that they called Arithmancy to calculate where these worlds would be. Out of all the ancient cultures of the world, I would have to say that the Alteran were probably the most advanced in Astronomy and understanding the stars. Anyways, this is the first generation of symbols and there are thirty-six of them in total. These are almost purely mathematical in nature although they do have sounds that are associated with each symbol. I think it looks like Morris Code on crack to be honest."

Daniel nodded as he took in the symbols that were written in vertical lines. Each line had a series of dots, lines and squiggles to make up the full symbol.

"Because these are almost purely mathematical in nature which limited there use they created the second generation."

Hermione slid her finger along the page until she was pointing to the symbols that Daniel was most familiar with from all the times he had dialed home from other planets.

"Now the second generation has thirty-nine symbols or glyphs. Each one has a mathematical component but they also each have different sounds and meanings. When you combine them into a set to represent a world, you would need to use the mathematical components of the symbol to find the right sounds as they can change. Are you still following?" Hermione waited until Daniel had nodded before she continued. "Now, working out the Arithmancy for each grouping of symbols would also point towards a specific point in the night sky, which is why Munita Portum ad Omnis is referred to as a world. Like I said, they were extremely advanced in mathematics and Astronomy. Each of these symbols correspond to a Constellation within the Milky Way. Using what they called an astria porta, they would enter these symbols or glyphs to indicate where they wanted to go." Hermione sat in silence for a few minutes as Daniel tried to process the information.

"Astria porta?" Daniel winced as he asked the question. He really needed to talk to Jack.

"Theoretical gateway. Translates into Stargate or Doorway through the stars.

"Ahh…so…these worlds could be anywhere within the Milky Way galaxy?" Daniel was unsure of what questions he should even ask at this point.

"For the most part. Like I said, this is a second generation, so any of these would be used for this galaxy. The thirty-nine symbols of the second generation are in addition to the original thirty-six. When you add two of them together you would have more variety available; both for mathematical purposes and for sounds and meanings. It is both a new alphabet and an extension to one at the same time. There are some stories of worlds that are in other galaxies, but not as many that would correspond with the Milky Way. There is one that refers to a people that the Alterans thought had a beautiful art culture, and their world would have been located in the area of the Fornax Dwarf galaxy. That world contained a mix of second and first generation symbols within its name."

"Fornax Dwarf?" Daniel would deny to his dying day that his voice squeaked as he spoke. "How did you pinpoint that area?"

"Well sure. The Alterans were always writing about the different 'clusters of stars' and what they would find there. I am not completely sure of whether or not they were just really lucky regarding the math or just ridiculously advanced and in possession of some type of telescope that I have no record of, but every story that I have read and done the Arithmancy for has corresponded with a galaxy at the very least. Even if they did not have anything like it we do have star charts that make it easy for me to calculate where they are pointing to."

"I suppose that they could take the cultures they met here on earth and just write about them as though they were from different worlds, but the way they write gives the impression that the universe is populated with countless inhabitable worlds and cultures. It is a wonderful thought and is a key component to their culture. Those Ancient Astronaut theories had to come from somewhere you know. They were not the only culture that wrote about the visitors from the skies." Hermione smirked at the baffled doctor that was blinking at her before she continued. _It's not like I can get into trouble with the Ministry of Magic for telling him this since they have no idea about this part of our history. Idiots._

"The Alteran creation myth would actually have them arriving here from another galaxy altogether. Probably somewhere like the Sextans B irregular galaxy if not further away. It could be in another cluster entirely; probably NGC 7582 or something equally isolated. The stories are very vague in the hopes that their 'children' or descendants never try and return to their original home world. The story tells that they left because their people were split into two factions. The Alterans decided that they would leave because the others, called the Ori, thought that all people that were not as advanced as them should worship them in return for their protection. The Alterans felt that other cultures should be allowed to grow at their own pace with no interference. It was after they had left that world and came here that they supposedly created the second generation of symbols so that they could visit the other worlds."

"Right. That is amazing." Daniel was almost whispering. This random woman that he had ran into in the library of all places had already given him a more detailed history of the gate builders than he had heard in all eight years he had been using the Stargate and exploring the galaxy. He still had no idea what he should ask her and now wondered if he should just tell her everything he knew about the Stargate at this point. If he did tell her though, Jack would probably kill him. "What about this group?" Daniel finally tapped the last set of symbols on the page. These looked like they may depict constellations as well, but they were dots that had been connected with lines.

"This is the third generation which added another thirty-eight symbols. Each has more sounds and mathematical components; it technically has a thirty-ninth symbol that represents this world but that one also exists in generation two. For some reason they thought it should be in both generations. Probably just for aesthetic reasons or to show that they would always consider this their home even if they were able to leave it to journey through the stars. These symbols normally show up in stories that would have been placed within the Pegasus galaxy, though they would also work for the neighboring ones as well when the other two generations were added in."

"Oh look here, I have a visual to help explain the generations and where they would be used." Hermione flipped though her notebook for a moment before she found a picture that she had obviously printed out from the internet. It was a picture of the Local Galactic Group as it would appear in a cylinder. Hermione quickly drew two diagonal lines to separate the middle cluster of galaxies from the bottom cluster and the four upper galaxies. "First generation, the one that is mainly mathematical based would cover long distances so when they would have traveled from Sextans B or somewhere in NGC 7582, that generation of symbols were the best to show the distance. Now when they supposedly settled here, they created second generation and these are the galaxies they would refer to with second generation or a combination of both. Of course the focus would be on the Milky Way galaxy. Finally, the third generation would cover these at the bottom, focusing mainly in Pegasus but with the addition of the other two generations they would be able to refer to any in the grouping. The further they were from their home, the more symbols and sounds they had to add. That is why it is a bit hard to know what the worlds would actually be called. With each symbol having different meanings and sounds, you have to know the math to even figure out a general translation. Then you have to make sure that it makes sense for the story." Hermione frowned a bit as she looked at the picture of the Local Galactic Group. "I don't think they have any stories that would take place outside this group aside from the possibility that their supposed home world, but if they did then I imagine that there would be a fourth generation of symbols."

"Hn." Daniel just blinked. _The Hell?_

"Oh my, so sorry, I tend to ramble when I get started on something like this. I hope that you weren't completely bored with my explanation." Hermione quickly started to pack up the rest of her things after taking a quick glance at her watch.

"What? No. That was one of the most exciting explanations on an Ancient language I have heard in a long while. It is rare to find someone that can explain a language that is basically unknown in such detail. It is obvious that you have no trouble reading this so I have to ask, exactly how many languages do you speak?"

Hermione blushed at the question. "Well, at last count I think it was somewhere around forty something." She wondered how many she would have if she were to include Gobbledegook or Mermish to her tally.

"You know over forty languages." Daniel just sat back in his seat stunned.

"Yes well, like I said…languages are a bit of a hobby. It was very nice meeting you and speaking with you Doctor Jackson." Hermione stood and pushed her chair in before holding her hand out for him to shake.

"Yes, it was lovely to talk to you as well." Daniel just blinked as she pulled her bag over her shoulder and left the room. After a few moments of sitting in silence he rushed to pack up his own things. He had not even fully left the building before he was calling the airport to change his ticket to the first flight back home. He had to talk to Jack.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you everyone for your response to this story. I had originally planned to post this story after I had completed some of my other ones, but decided to go ahead and post when my USB drive was stolen.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I will try to answer through PM. I hope you guys enjoy.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Stargate

Jack walked into the briefing room while hiding a yawn behind his hand. "Good morning campers." He sank into his chair and rubbed his palms over his face before leaning back to take a look at those that Daniel had called in for an 'emergency' meeting. _I should not have given the space monkey time off to go to the library. D'oh._ He took a moment to drag his attention back into reality as he looked at the tired faces of Doctor Elizabeth Weir and the frustrated expression on Sam's face. Someone that he did not see was Daniel. "So…where's Daniel. He woke me up for this."

"I don't know, Sir." Sam was tapping her fingers on the folder she had placed on the table as she spoke.

"Anyone know why he called us in?" Elizabeth asked while pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Nope." Jack pulled the coffee pot and a cup forward in the hopes that he would be awake soon. "Sam, do you have any ideas?"

"No, Sir. He called me this morning and asked that I run a full background check on someo…"

"Oh good, you are all here." Daniel rushed into the room while holding a notebook and a few folders that he had grabbed from his office on the way to the briefing room.

"Daniel." Jack waited expectantly for an explanation on why they had been called in. "You're back early."

"I met someone." Daniel did not say anything else as he immediately lost himself in his thoughts; he was trying to think of the best way he could explain what was going on. He had spent the entirety of his trip trying to write down everything he could remember about his conversation with Doctor Granger but had failed to give one moments thought on how to explain.

After a moment of silence Jack raised one brow and deadpanned. "Congratulations."

"What? No. I met someone that needs to be on the Atlantis team." Daniel waved his arms in the air as he spoke to everyone at the table.

"Doctor Jackson, the expedition list has been completed and approved already. John Sheppard was the last person that was added and that was only because of the strength of his ATA gene. We are set to dial out in just three weeks. There would be no time to get someone else debriefed and ready to go." Elizabeth spoke softly to the obviously caffeinated doctor that was sitting across the table from her.

"You don't understand. She needs to go…even if it meant changing the date for the dial out attempt. You need her more than you need John Sheppard."

"What?" Jack and Elizabeth both asked at the same time. Both of them confused at what would make Daniel think that they needed someone more than John Sheppard.

"Is this the woman you wanted me to run the background check on?" Sam asked from her seat beside Daniel.

"Yes. Did you get anything?"

"Not really." The irritated tone caught Jacks attention more than the answer itself.

"What do you mean 'not really?' And who is this person that we just have to send through our Stargate?"

Sam started talking before Daniel could get started again. He tended to ramble when he was this excited and caffeinated and he could go on for hours if uninterrupted.

"I got a call at about three in the morning from Daniel asking me to run this background check on one Doctor Hermione Granger. I had probably been running searches on her for about ten or fifteen minuets when I got a call to my personal office from Sir Richard Dearlove."

Jack interrupted her in shock. "Richard Dearlove? Isn't he head of MI6?" He had met the man in passing at some formal event not too long ago where most everyone invited had been briefed about the Stargate and their countries chosen to participate in the Atlantis Expedition.

"Yep." Sam was not surprised at the shocked expressions on Jacks and Elizabeth's faces, but she was shocked to see that Daniel was also shocked by the information. "He asked if I was Doctor Samantha Carter of Stargate Command, and then he wanted to know why I was running a search on Doctor Granger. Apparently her files are watched and he was immediately notified that someone was looking for information on her."

"The hell did you do in England Daniel?" Jack stared at his longtime friend in exasperation. Somehow he always seemed to stir up trouble.

"I did not know that would happen. I met her at the library and we talked for a while." Daniel had a stunned look on his face as he looked at the closed cover of the folder that Sam was still tapping with her fingertips.

Jack sighed and wondered if he had any Tylenol in his desk. "Alright. What did you find out from our friends over at MI6?" Jack just looked over at Sam along with Elizabeth and Daniel. Both he and Elizabeth were just as anxious to find out what was so special about this girl and Daniel wanted to know why she was being watched by MI6.

Sam sighed and began to give her report. "Well, since he knew that I was working for Stargate Command, he deduced that I was checking on her for either a position here or on the Atlantis Expedition. Because of that, he gave me temporary access to her file after he approved it for your security clearance Sir. He stated that we would need to provide him with a list of those outside this room that would eventually need clearance for this file if she chose to work with us in the future."

"What the hell is in that file?" Jack was now looking at the folder as though it contained some sort of alien bug that was going to jump out at him and try to eat his face. Something that he tended to take very seriously.

"Ahem." Sam cleared her throat before she opened the folder so that everyone could see the papers within. Almost every line of the papers was unreadable due to the black lines that covered the reports. Jack, Elizabeth and Daniel just looked at the papers in disbelief for a moment before Sam started to read what she could of the report.

"Hermione Jean Granger was born September 19th, 1979 and is currently twenty-four years old. She has a Doctorate in Chemistry and it is currently estimated that she is able to speak, read or write more than forty-three languages, which was her count in 2001."

"Her parents are John Hugh Granger and Marie Jean Granger nee Applegate. Location is currently unknown as of 1998."

"Are they dead?" Daniel asked softly.

"I don't know. That is literally all the current information there is about her parents. Everything else has been redacted. Well, there is a note in here about their having been dentists at one point, but if they are alive there is no telling where or what they are doing."

"Maybe this is why her file is so redacted?" Elizabeth mused as she took another sip of her coffee. This morning was turning out much more interesting than she thought it was going to be. "it is possible that they worked for the government at some point or needed to go into a witness protection because of something they got involved in."

"Sorry, but no." Sam ignored the looks she was getting as she continued to give her report on Doctor Granger. "Apparently the reason the file is so redacted is because of the terror attacks they were having in Britain a few years ago. She was involved; heavily involved."

"The ones that stopped in 1998?" Jack asked for clarification. "She would have still been a teenager." More than a few leaders around the world had been keeping an eye on the situation in Britain when people had started to turn up murdered with no apparent cause of death again. Tony Blair had advised the other countries that it was the work of a terrorist organization that had operated around a decade earlier and that they were working to contain the issue. Jack had been one of the ones that had given a sigh of relief when Tony Blair had announced to the other nations that the issue had been dealt with.

"Yes. In November of 1998, Hermione Granger was awarded the George Cross for actions of conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger." Silence settled over the room like a blanket. "Sir Richard Dearlove said that it would have been the Victoria Cross had she been military. That is pretty much all I can get on Doctor Granger except that in cases of emergency we should contact the offices of Tony Blair."

"Huh." Was the only sound that Daniel could make at the moment. He was completely shocked at the new information he had about the woman he had been lucky enough to run into.

"Well Daniel." Jack always seemed so calm in the wake of shocking information. "You found us a woman that is apparently a redacted to hell and back hero. We may not have any twenty-four year old George Cross recipients scheduled for the expedition, but I am sure that we have some heroes on the list."

Daniel had to shake himself to get his thoughts back on track. "I actually did not know any of that."

"What makes this girl so special that you want her to go on the expedition?" Elizabeth finally asked. Seriously, sometimes getting information out of SG1 was like pulling teeth.

"Because one of the languages she can speak is Ancient."

"What?" All three of his tablemates yelled at the same time.

"She speaks Ancient."

"Start talking Daniel." Jack was almost growling at the thought that someone may have come across information on the Stargate. It never seemed to fail that there was some kind of odd circumstance that ensured some civilian had a little too much information.

"It was pure chance that I found out. I was sharing a study room with her; which was surprising in its-self as hardly anyone ever bothers using the rooms set aside for ancient languages. I caught a glimpse of her notebook. She was making notes in probably whatever language she was thinking about while writing at the moment. One of those was Ancient. Not only that, but she had a bound book that she was reading that was entirely in Ancient and contained a gate address."

While no one spoke, Daniel could tell that his three companions were not happy with this news.

"After I thought I could speak without scaring her to death, I asked her about the language." Daniel pulled out his notes so that he could tell them what he had learned. "She had more knowledge about the Ancients than I have found the entire time I have been on this team."

"What did she say?" How did she get the book and how was she reading it?" Elizabeth was extremely curious about the woman that Daniel was describing

"It's a long story. Apparently, she went to boarding school when she was eleven and her headmaster realized she had a gift for languages when he found her perusing a book in his personal collection. From what she said, he was the last of a family that had been entrusted with the duty of collecting the knowledge of their ancestors, but no one had been able to read them for generations; they were simply continuing to pass them along. It sounded like he was a direct descendant from the Ancients, who were called the Alteran by the way."

"Alteran." Jack deadpanned. _Coffee is not good enough, I need a beer._

"Yes. Anyways, she was able to give me a general history of how the collection came to her. The Alteran or Ancients felt that their knowledge should not be given away, but protected…"

"Sounds familiar." Jack muttered, earning him a glare from the rest of the group. Daniel continued on as though he never said a word.

"So the collections were entrusted to families and they could only pass the collections on legally to another family of collectors. Doctor Granger's Headmaster was the last such person, but when he realized that she could decipher the books, he looked into her family history and found that she was also a descendant of one of these families. I think she said the last name was Dagworth-Granger."

"Hold on. You said that these families that became collectors were direct descendants of the Anc…Alterans? Are you saying that she is Alteran?" Jack was not the only one with an incredulous expression on his face as he asked the question.

"I would be willing to make a promise to never again ask to set foot in Atlantis if she did not have the ATA gene. I am almost positive that she would react just a strongly as John Shepard to the Ancient technology with the exception that she would be able to read what she was looking at."

"Well hell." Jack leaned back in his chair as he tried to process the information that was being shoved into his brain this morning. Having Daniel even suggest that he would be willing to forgo any future attempts at going to Atlantis showed just how sure he was of his theory.

"So…okay…I guess I could see how she would be an asset to the Atlantis Expedition." Elizabeth had turned in her chair to look at the Stargate through. "How well do you think she can translate the language of the Ancients?"

"She reads it like it was her first language. Not only that, but she can actually translate the gate symbols. She…wait…" Daniel opened the folder that he had grabbed from his office and pulled out some of the papers that Jack had been doodling on while he had the Ancient's Repository downloaded into his brain. Jack, Sam and Elizabeth all leaned forward so that they could see what he was pointing at. "This, these little lines of dots and squiggles, she called this first generation symbols and is apparently a precursor to what we see on our gate, which is second generation. I think the first generation had a total of thirty-six symbols and she said that they were mainly mathematical even though they had sounds and meanings associated with each one as well…Oh…I need to tell you what she called the Alteran creation myth."

Jack interrupted here as he could see that Daniel was about to self-combust at any moment. "Hey, take a breath and take us through it. Finnish with the symbols first and then we can have story time." _God, he was going to need a whiskey after this meeting._

"Right." Daniel nodded his head. Elizabeth had pulled a note pad out of her bag and was quickly making notes for her own references. "Well, these are first generation, and then we use second generation symbols, which apparently are for use mainly in the Milky Way but can be used with the first generation to refer to other galaxies. She told me that she had a story about an art culture that was in the Fornax Galaxy and that would have used both generations of symbols." Daniel ignored the wide eyed stares and the sputtering that occurred when he mentioned other worlds and galaxies. "She also had a list of a third generation of symbols that would be added for use primarily in the Pegasus Galaxy and those closest to that area. Here, this is a model of the Local Galactic Group that I printed of the internet this morning. This is how she broke down the usage of the three generations."

"Pegasus. As in where you think Atlantis is?" Sam could see Jack wince as she asked this question. She knew what he was thinking and what he would probably ask next.

"Exactly."

Jack only looked at the picture for a moment before he asked his next question. "Do you think she already knows about the Stargate?" He could feel a spectacular migraine forming as he asked; he could just feel it in his gut that he was not going to like the answer.

"I think it is more than likely that she has read about them and how they work. She already has books telling her about the astria porta and how it can take you to other worlds. Not only that, but she also had a book written in Goa'uld about the fall of Apep and the rise of his successor Apophis, which she could read. She refered to them as evil gits that set themselves up as gods and wanted people to worship at their feet. I think she was doing the same thing that we do when talking to others. Try our best to keep the information as vague as possible while not lying to a degree that it is obvious to those listening. Everything she told me was about stories that were written like modern day fiction and she acted as though she believed they were just that...fiction."

The room once again fell into heavy silence. Sam eventually decided to break the silence since she was now kind of glad that this woman was causing everyone frustration instead of just her. "At least we know that she won't be too surprised when she is asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement."

"Hell." Jack just started to rub his temples as he thought about the amount of paperwork this was going to generate.

"Well, I have to say that if what Doctor Jackson has said is true, she would be a great asset to the expedition. Both for the languages she can speak and for the work in Chemistry. None of the scientist we currently have on the list actually specializes in Chemistry but some have experience in the field."

Jack groaned before pushing his chair back and standing. "I guess will go call Agent Dearlove and see if we can get this ball rolling." Jack reached over and gathered the paperwork that they currently had on Doctor Granger.

"Sir, you need to call the office of Tony Blair. Dearlove said that he would let the Prime Minister know that you would be calling." Sam spoke quickly so that Jack would hear her before he disappeared into his office.

"Oh hell." Was the last thing that they heard before the door to Jacks office closed.

* * *

Hermione frowned as she listened to the voice message that had been left in her voicemail while she had been taking a shower and getting ready for her day. Tony Blair, the Prime Minister that had helped her out when she decided to cut most of her ties with the Magical world had called to let her know that she would be receiving visitors and that they had provisional clearance to hear about the Magical world. Meaning that she could tell them about the Magical world but that she could not use her wand around any of the people that were coming to talk to her. Would not want to get the Aurors involved after all.

It was Tony Blair that fought for her to receive recognition for her participation in ending the reign of terror that Tom Riddle had started. He also made it abundantly clear to the Ministry of Magic and to Kingsley when they had spoken, that Hermione would not be giving up her wand, being Obliviated of her knowledge of the Magical world, nor would she be required to do anything for the Magical world if it was not her choice to do so. Tony Blair and the people that worked in his offices had been a great asset to Hermione after the war had ended.

To say that she had been disappointed in the Wizarding world after Voldemort had been defeated would be an understatement. She had expected things to get better, but unfortunately things stayed pretty much the same. In some aspects they were worse as she could no longer say that the Wizarding world was arse-backwards because of the Death Eaters pushing their pureblood crap.

She had been heartbroken when the people she had fought side by side with had told her that 'it's just the way things are' as all the pure-bloods and half-bloods received their Orders of Merlins. There had been an old law that stated that those born of muggles were unfit to receive the Order, and it apparently couldn't be changed nor could any of the bigoted laws that had been made by the Death Eaters be changed without a unanimous decision from the Wizengamot. It was this odd experience, the out-right refusal to change such an outdated and bigoted law, that had finally opened her eyes to what she could look forward to if she stayed within the Wizarding world.

Luckily for her, she had kept up with her muggle education and she could easily attend University. It had been fairly easy to keep up with the muggle subjects since she had already been advanced through several grades when she had received her letter of acceptance to Hogwarts. Since she was able to find gainful employment in the muggle world while continuing her education, she had decided that she would live in the muggle world and find something that would give her a sense of accomplishment. Something that was even more important to her when she realized that the laws keeping those that were muggle-born from advancing too far within the Ministry.

This decision had caused even more trouble for her though. Apparently, Ron had been under the completely moronic impression that she would be marrying him and staying at home to raise their many children like his mother had done. They had kissed once and that was in a situation that Hermione maintained was extremely stressful, which had led to questionable decisions on her part. Seriously, a messy kiss in the Chamber of Secrets was in no way romantic and they would have killed each other before they got married.

With her refusal to be his stay at home baby maker, cook and maid; Molly had decided that Hermione was an upstart that was worse that Fleur. No longer was she to be welcomed at the table of Molly Weasley. With Molly accusing her of being less than a woman for not wanting to increase the size of the Weasley family and Ron constantly telling her that she would be back because he was the best that she could hope for, Hermione had been sure that nothing could get worse.

She had been wrong.

Ginny had apparently been upset about all the 'free time' that Harry and Hermione had spent together and alone on their 'romantic' camping trip and had therefore started to try and keep Harry from spending anytime with the female third of the trio. Harry, having always been desperate for family, had started to pull away from the girl that had been his best friend and stuck by him when Ron had deserted him in the effort of keeping his soon-to-be family happy.

While all this was going on, the Ministry had decided that they were not happy with the fact that Hermione was planning on getting a higher muggle education and getting a job in the muggle world. She had been the brightest witch of her age and, blood status aside, they needed her brain to help make the Magical world a better place for those with the breading to make use of the knowledge she had.

She had never been more grateful as she had been when Tony Blair had stepped in and put the weight of the Muggle government behind her. She was not sure how he had even found out what was going on to the degree that he had, but he had been furious about the way she and the other muggleborns had been treated.

With the treat of being exposed and the possibility of yet another war, this time with the muggle world who outnumbered them and pretty much ensured that their precious Statute of Secrecy was upheld (and boy were they surprised at how much information the muggle government was suppressing and how little their obviators actually covered,) the Ministry decided that maybe it was better to let Hermione Granger do as she wished. She was not positive, but she was pretty sure that they had the same impression that Ron did; she would soon come crawling back as the muggle world had nothing on the Magical world. She really hoped that they held their breath.

Hermione had felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders and it did not take her long to earn her Chemistry degree. With an angry and helpful Prime Minister behind her, she was able to live in the muggle world while visiting the Magical world when she needed. Since she had access to the Magical world, she had paid her fines to the Goblins from the damage they had caused in their hunt for the Horcruxes and had finally found out about the rest of her inheritance. She had been livid when she found out that the Ministry had been trying to block the rest of her inheritance. they had thought that by giving her the children's book, that she would never ask the Goblins about the rest of Dumbledore will. Thankfully, Hermione was a book worm and had read about the process for inheritances while at Hogwarts. Anyone that received a personal item was then expected to present themselves to the Goblins to see if there was anything else that had been left to them. It was an old and outdated law, but the Wizarding world was also old and outdated.

Because the inheritance from Dumbledore was locked safely in one of Gringotts most secure vaults, Hermione would never have to worry about someone trying to take the knowledge she had been entrusted with unless they proved to the Goblins that they were a descendant of one of the families that had originally been chosen. The Ministry only knew that Hermione had claimed the inheritance but knew nothing about what it was. They mostly assumed that it was just money because Dumbledore had left a lot of his personal library to Hogwarts. None of the magical families would ever actually request yo be tested for lost inheritances since they all thought they knew everything about their history. The muggleborn would never think to ask because they would never be told that it was possible for them to have a Magical Heritage. It was for this reason that she had given so much information to Doctor Daniel Jackson when she met him at the library. The chances of him actually connecting her with Magic was just as likely as her actually visiting one of the places mentioned in her books.

Considering how little time she spent using her Magic or in the Magical world, she really had not thought about the consequences of her actions until after she had left the Library, but even then she did not think that anything would come of it. She had kept most of it theoretical so that he would not think that she was absolutely nuts or want to run experiments on her because she was a descendant of people who wrote about traveling around the Universe like they were taking a walk around the park; and since the Magical world had no idea about their origins or where their Magic came from or what it was she did not have to worry about the Statue of Secrecy. It is not like they would believe her either if she had told them what she now knew about their history as they were completely devoted to believing that they already had all the important knowledge and that technology was _evil_ or something equally ridiculous. She thought surely though, that having talked to a muggle about the Alteran could not possibly bite her in the butt. The chances of him actually connecting her with Magic was just as likely as her actually visiting one of the places mentioned in her books.

So why was the offices of Tony Blair calling her to tell her that there were some people coming to see her and that they had been given provisional clearance for basic information on the Magical world?

A knock at the door caused her to jump in place as she sat her cell phone down. Walking over to the door and taking a deep breath before she pulled it open she found three people standing on her doorstep. One was a lovely brown haired woman that was smiling gently at her. Another was a slightly older gentleman in a US Air-force uniform. Hermione blinked as he looked at her with a look that just screamed that she had given him a headache. (She had not seen that expression since she had been a student of Severus Snape.) And the last person on her doorstep was none other than a slightly hyper looking Daniel Jackson.

Hermione just sighed and muttered under her breath. "Inferni cruenta."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you very much for all the reviews. I love reading your thoughts on my stories. I am glad that you guys have enjoyed the story so far. If you have any questions I will try to respond through PM. ( I do tend to ramble when I respond, so...Yeah...I may be chatty if you ask me a question. :)

Please be aware that this story will be AU for both Atlantis and Harry Potter. There will be a few quotes from the show and I have tried to keep them in bold. These will eventually fade out though as it is AU. I hope that you guys continue to enjoy the story.

Happy Reading

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Stargate

Hermione sighed as she shifted out of the way of a scientist that was rushing around the Gateroom like a demented pygmy puff. Everyone was double or triple checking that their crates were all accounted for. She was fairly certain that she had just seen someone rush out of the room after declaring that they had forgotten to pack something that they just could not live without. The only people that were not rushing around or acting like crazy people were the different military personnel that were either walking around trying to get everyone situated or the regular Stargate personnel that were posted in and around the room that housed the Stargate. It seemed like the scientists that were chosen for this expedition were all oddly disorganized.

That or Hermione was just oddly organized.

She could hear someone on the other side of the room asking if anyone spoke the language of whoever he was talking to, but she just stood quietly in her little bubble of space. She already knew that she would never be able to get across the room with how crowded it was in the room right now. There were stacks of crates on almost every free inch of floor space, leaving what amounted to small paths for the humans to use to maneuver around the room. Somehow she had managed to find herself cornered near some of the crates that were stacked near the ramp that lead to the gate.

 _I suppose this means that I will be near the front of the line then._ Hermione could not help but smile at the thought of finally heading through the gate and seeing Atlantis for the first time. When Doctor Jackson had shown up on her doorstep with Jack O'Neill and Elizabeth Weir, she had been stunned at the thought that muggle military had not only found the astria porta and been using it, but that they also thought that they knew the location and could actually travel to the lost city-ship of Atlantis. The last of the great city-ships that the Alterans had built within the Milky-Way Galaxy and the muggles had found it.

She shifted again as yet another Marine passed by in order to speak to a hyperventilating scientist. She watched a few moments as the Marine consulted his tablet before directing the scientist towards another stack of crates. Since she was cornered towards the front of the room she was able to see most of the activity taking place, providing her with a bit of insight into the others that were going to be traveling with her. So far she was only impressed with the people that were military. _I guess that is because of my past…but seriously, is that woman crying? Yes…yes she is…she forgot one of her books on bugs. That is just lovely._ After rolling her eyes at the still hyperventilating scientist she turned thoughtful. _I wonder if she is one of those people that_ love _bugs or if I can talk her into giving me a few of what she comes across._ She continued to eye the other scientist as she thought about the best way to get bugs from the Pegasus galaxy for her experiments.

Surprisingly, she was the only person that was assigned to her two departments. Languages and Chemistry seemed to be overlooked in the original plans for the expedition; something that had astounded Hermione. Apparently they thought that the others could fill those needs as issues came up, and therefore they had not bothered creating departments. This worked out for the best in Hermione's opinion as it gave her a lot more leeway while packing. She did have two departments to pack for after all.

She watched as Doctor Beckett and another Marine argued over something before Colonel Sumner interfered in the argument. She could not hear what they were saying over the cacophony, but from what she could see from this interaction and the rest of what she had observed so far, there was going to be a lot of friction between the two groups. The military personnel and the scientists were already butting heads and they were still firmly on Earth.

Now, she was not sure about anyone else, but she had joined this expedition with the understanding that whatever was on the other side of the gate may not be all rainbows and unicorns. Not only had she realized that while talking to O'Neill, Jackson and Weir, but once they had left her apartment she had immediately gone to Gringotts to access her vault. She had wanted to find everything she could about the city and about Pegasus.

She was not all that thrilled to only find minimal information on Atlantis. The only information that she had found was located in some of the oldest books and scrolls in the vault. It was more than a little unsettling to know that the city was abandoned by what basically translated to 'bug infestation.' She did not know what kind of 'bug infestation' would cause an advanced race to abandon what was one of their greatest achievements. What she did know was that having a good number of people that knew how to defend themselves and knew how to use various weapons that could be used to keep everyone safe was a wonderful idea. _I swear if there are blast ended skrewts in Atlantis, I am going to lose my mind._

The lack of information on the city did not cause Hermione to second guess her decision to join the expedition, but it did make her question her decision to keep her abilities mostly to herself. She was not completely comfortable that O'Neill, Jackson and Weir knew that she had what they _thought_ was telekinetic abilities. She did not want her magic to be something that was commonly known by those going on the expedition, as it was only Weir and Becket had any idea. Becket only knew because of her medical examination-which had been a whole separate issue for Hermione. She had spent hours thinking about using Obliviate on the doctor before finally placing a mild notice-me-not charm on her file. She could trust Doctor/Patient confidentiality only so far.

To her left someone dropped a small case causing Hermione to jerk out of her thoughts and back into the present. A quick glance around the room showed that it would not be much longer before they dialed the gate. Everyone was now standing quietly for the most part. Hermione shifted until she was closer everyone else facing the Stargate.

A dark haired guy walked into the Gateroom carrying what Hermione had learned was a P-90. Hermione looked away from the man that reminded her so much of her childhood friend Harry, and looked forward as Weir walked into the room and took up a position at the foot of the ramp that lead up to the gate. Weir, like everyone else was carrying a small backpack and was dressed in the uniform that was provided for all those going on the Atlantis expedition.

" **Could I have everyone's attention please?"** The occupants of the Gateroom became completely silent as they all listened to the leader of their exhibition. **"Alright, here we go. We are about to try to make a connection. We have been unable to predict exactly how much power this is gonna take and we may only get the one chance at this, so if we are able to achieve a stable wormhole, we're not gonna risk shutting the Gate down. We'll send in the M.A.L.P robot probe, check for viability and go. Everything in one shot. Now, every one of you volunteered for this mission and you represent over a dozen countries. You are the world's best and brightest; and in light of the adventure we are about to embark on, you are also the bravest. I hope we all return one day having discovered a whole new realm for humanity to explore, but as all of you know, we may never be able to return home. I'd like to offer you all one last chance to withdraw your participation."**

A few of the gathered adults looked around as though waiting for the person next to them to decide that this trip was not for them. More than a few of the scientist looked as though they did not know whether to be excited or terrified of going through the gate for the first time. Most of the military personnel just stood quietly.

" **Begin the dialing sequence"** Weir stepped off of the ramp so that she could return to the control room where she would watch as they attempted to make a connection to the Atlantis gate.

Hermione watched the gate, excited to see the astria porta create a wormhole that would allow her to travel to a different galaxy. It was one thing to read about the technology but this was just something else altogether.

Her attention was momentarily distracted as the man that she had been told was the head of the military contingent, Colonel Sumner, walked over to the man that she thought looked like Harry. While she could not hear what they were saying, it was clear that these two would be about as close as Harry and Professor Snape were while they were in school. The conversation only lasted the length of time that it took three of the chevrons to be encoded, allowing Hermione to turn her attention back to watching the gate without missing much.

Once the eighth chevron had been encoded and the wormhole had been established, everyone in the control room, Gateroom and in the hallways burst into applause. Slowly, the MALP made its way up the ramp and through the event horizon and Hermione was left to wait for news along with everyone else as to whether or not they would be actually travelling through the gate today.

Colonel Sumner held his hand up to the ear that held his ear piece for a moment before stepping up onto the ramp. " **Let's go people. We don't know how much time we've got. Security teams one and two, you're up first. All other personnel will follow on our signal. Once on the other side, keep moving, clear the debarkation area. On my lead.** "

Hermione raised one brow when Weir interrupted Sumner in order to tell them that they would be going through together. Sumner seemed to reluctantly agree that Weir could go through with him, but honestly, Hermione was glad that she was going to be waiting right here on Earth while the Marines made sure that there were no three headed dogs or flying monkeys on the other side. Of course, she could just be paranoid since she was still thinking about the passages she had read about the 'bug infestation', but Constant Vigilance and all that.

It was only a few moments later when they were given the all clear to head through the gate from the other side. O'Neill gave the order for the expedition team to move out and suddenly there was a surge as the crowd moved forward. Being close to the front of the group, Hermione barely had time to grab two of the cases that were stacked by the ramp as she was dragged along with the rest of the people on the expedition.

As she stepped through the gate and into the Gateroom of Atlantis she moved quickly to the side and placed her two cases in an out of the way corner before looking around. The room was surprisingly lit up and one of the first things that she noticed was the writing on the stairs leading towards the balcony.

The second thing that she noticed was that there were scientists putting their cases and backpacks down almost as soon as they came through the gate, and then wondering around looking and touching things even though she just clearly heard Sumner tell everyone to find a place to 'park it.' The Marines were quickly moving crates out of the way and stacking them where they would not block traffic while casting irritated looks towards the more excitable scientists. When she moved to help them move the crates and boxes without saying a word she received more than a few raised brows from the military personnel that were still in the Gateroom as she was the only person with blue on her uniform that had not wondered off.

While she was moving crates around (think Merlin that the large ones had wheels on the bottom) she was listening. Apparently the lights were coming on automatically as they moved about. None of the security teams had found any evidence that the city was occupied. They did not finish receiving personnel and crates until they hit the thirty-four minuet mark. While Weir spoke with Stargate Command over the radio, Hermione continued to help the military personnel move stuff around to try and keep the middle of the floor as clear as possible.

After they had received a bottle of champagne from Earth and the gate was shut down Hermione finally had a chance to look around at the city she had read about. Moving so that she was in an out of the way corner, she finally let her backpack fall from her shoulders onto one of the crates that she had pushed into the corner earlier. Reaching into her bag she looked over at the stairs and made a note of the translation.

WE HOLD THESE WORDS AS TRUE,

A HEART FILLED WELCOME TO THOSE OF OTHER WORLDS VISITING OUR WORLD FOR THE FIRST TIME,

WELCOME AGAIN TO THOSE RETURNING YOU HAVE BEEN GONE TOO LONG AND YOUR ABSENCE HAS WEIGHED HEAVY ON OUR SOULS,

WE ARE WHOLE AGAIN NOW THAT YOU ARE AMONG US AND WE CELEBRATE YOU BEING HERE AGAIN

AS WE LEAVE FOR DISTANT WORLDS WE PLEDGE TO RESPECT THE LANDS OF OUR NEIGHBORS AND TO ACT WITH INTEGRITY AS AMBASSADORS OF OUR PEOPLE IN PEACE TIME,

TRAVELERS WITH OPEN HEARTS WILL ALWAYS BE WELCOME AND REFUGEES FROM TYRANNY MAY SEEK SHELTER UNDER OUR ROOF,

OUR PEOPLE WILL LAY DOWN THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT THE WEAK AND THE JUST, LET THIS BE OUR PLEDGE TO THE INHABITANTS OF THIS WORLD AND ALL WORLDS WE MAY EVER KNOW

ALWAYS COME IN PEACE, AS WE STRIVE TO GO IN PEACE AND YOU WILL BE WELCOME ON OUR SHORES FOREVER MORE

Creating a file on her data pad, Hermione saved the translation and started to look around at other signs that were located within the Gateroom. She was able to find signs that provided directions to restrooms, conference rooms, the Chancellors office and other common areas. Once she was able to connect to the Atlantis Data Core she would probably be able to provide the military with a map. Nodding a bit to herself as she made a note to look for a map she started to listen in to what the others were reporting in on the radio.

Hermione looked up as she heard Sumner ask for Weir to join him with a serious tone that came through even on the radio. Weir and Sheppard quickly left the balcony where McKay and some of the other scientists were busy poking at the consoles. Checking her bag for the cable they were all given to interface with the crystal technology, she looked around and found a panel that she could access right next to the container she was using as a seat in her corner. It was only minutes later that her tablet was directly connected to the Atlantis systems. She sat quietly in her corner looking though the data showing on her tablet for a map of some sort while still listening to the reports coming in on the radio.

She snorted when she heard Weir's reaction to finding out that the city was under water. It was just not that surprising as the myths had to have come from somewhere. She also ignored the report going around about a hologram room that explained that the Alterans evacuated because they were under siege. (Hermione was trying not to think about the 'bug infestation' and how that equated into a siege.) What did catch her attention was McKay's report that everyone needed to stop doing stuff as they were almost out of power.

When McKay was back on the balcony and working on his laptop, she went over to see if there was anything that she could do to help. Needless to say that McKay would always be King Prat to her from that moment on.

"Doctor McKay, is there anything that I can do to help or anything that you need translated?"

"Who are you…no wait. I don't care. You are not on my team. Just find a place out of my way." McKay had looked at her like she was the stupidest person he had ever seen and had no desire to even know if she could help him.

Shaking her head at the size of the ego on the idiot, she had made her way back to her corner where she could go over the data that she had saved to her tablet before disconnecting from the panel she had used to connect into the Atlantis systems.

While she searched the data she had downloaded, she kept an ear out for information on what was going on. Apparently they only had enough power to last for a few days at max, and that was pushing it and was probably just wishful thinking. It was more realistic to think that they only had hours before they would have to abandon the city. Weir eventually told Sumner to get a team together and search for a safe planet they could use when they had to abandon the city. What surprised Hermione though was that she insisted that this Sheppard guy go along with Sumner when he was not part of the two teams that Sumner had chosen. Apparently Sheppard was Weirs guy through and through.

Once the team was assembled, Sumner pulled one of the Marines to the side. Hermione, still in her little corner, was close enough to hear their hushed conversation.

"Bates, I want you to stay here and start preparing everyone for possible evacuation. If we have to it would be best if we can go as quickly as possible and with as much stuff as we can bring."

"Sir, I should be going along with."

"Bates, this is an order. I need to know that these people will be ready to move out if I give the word."

"Yes Sir." Any idiot would have been able to tell that Bates was not at all happy with his orders, but that he would follow them to the letter. Not long after their conversation, the away team was gone and the Gateroom was left in relative silence.

The next few hours went quickly as Hermione helped the military personnel move everything around again. This time though was with the goal to have everything moved back though the gate as quickly as possible. Bates had also ordered some of his team to go around and account for everyone and have everyone move back into the Gateroom. Once everything was organized to his satisfaction, he ordered everyone that was not currently occupied working on the power issues to get some rest. Seeing Hermione in her corner again, he walked over to address her directly for the first time.

"Thank you for helping out. For an egghead, I have to say that you were more helpful than I expected."

"Egghead?" Hermione raised her brow at the moniker. "Is that anything like bookworm or know-it-all swat?"

Bates just smirked as some his teammate hid his laugh behind a cough. "Sorry about that. There are a lot of eggheads on this expedition. I am Sergeant Bates and this is Sargent Thomas." Bates pointed to his companion. "You should get some rest while you can. We may be moving out again in a while, but it could be a few hours before we hear anything."

"So I have heard. Pleased to meet you Sargent Bates and Thomas. I am Doctor Hermione Granger." Hermione shook the blonds hand first and then shook Bates' when it was also offered. "If you are telling everyone to rest then you must do so also. There are plenty of crates to sit on here in my corner if you want to join me."

Looking around and seeing that the room was in order, both Bates and Thomas quickly made themselves comfortable in Hermione's corner by leaning back against the walls. While Hermione actually closed her eyes for a bit, both Bates and Thomas settled down to keep a quiet eye out. The military personnel still in Atlantis had been broken down into four hour shifts, and they would only go to sleep if they still had not heard anything by the time their shift was over.

Hermione, never having gotten out of the habit of sleeping when she could, quickly fell into a light doze. Thomas watched incredulously as the petite scientist eventually ended up using Bates as a pillow in which to lean on. Bates just looked up from the wild brown hair on his shoulder and shrugged at his teammate with his unoccupied shoulder. Neither of them was quite sure what to think about the little scientist, but they already knew that she was at least helpful.

A few hours later, Hermione woke up as Bates shook her shoulder and steadied her as she regained her focus. When he and Thomas quickly walked off to speak with Weir and McKay, she pulled her backpack onto her shoulders. It was obvious that they had not heard anything yet from the away team, so the discussion could not be about anything good. She was proven right as they reentered the gate room while discussing the immediate evacuation of Atlantis. Bates and Thomas were already getting people up and telling them to get ready to go through the gate in a hurry. Hermione quickly started on her side of the room to make sure that everyone was awake and aware of what was going on.

McKay had just started to dial the gate when he yelled. **"We have an incoming wormhole."**

Everyone froze as the force field covered the now active gate. Eventually a code was recognized and Hermione watched incredulously as Sheppard walked through the gate along with a lot more people than he had left with.

As the last of the people made their way through the gate, Weir made her way over to Sheppard. **"Major Sheppard, who are all these people?"**

" **Survivors from the settlement. We were attacked. Sumner and some of our men were taken."** He looked around and finally noticed everyone standing around with their packs on their backs. **"What's going on?"**

Hermione watched as a hushed argument took place between the two. Sheppard seemed to have a hard time understanding that they expected the ocean to come crashing down any moment, and Weir seemed to have a hard time understanding that the planet that these people had just came from was unsafe for them use as any sort of home base.

Eventually, one of the children of the village was asked for a new gate address that would lead them somewhere friendly. _Honestly, they can't ask one of the adults standing around?_ Before they could even begin dialing though, there was a great flash of light and the city shuttered, sending most everyone to the floor. Hermione was lucky; she had been wedged even further into her corner by Sargent Thomas, who had been told by Bates to make his way back over to her when the villagers had come through with Sheppard. Hermione had found herself in her corner with Thomas between her and the refugees. Bates had made his way over to join them after Sheppard and Weir had decided to let the boy choose where they were going to go.

When the city began to shake, Bates and Thomas ended up leaning back and bracing themselves on the walls to keep themselves from falling. As she was behind them, she was in no danger of falling to the floor, but slightly in danger of being squished by the two larger men. As the city began to shutter and shake even more crates and boxes began to fall over or slide from their positions. Eventually, Hermione could detect the slightest feeling of movement from the city and looked over at one of the windows. She smiled as bubbles rushed passed the window before sunlight suddenly was shining through as the City rushed into the sunlight for the first time in ten thousand years. With only a few more slight shudders the city came to a rest on the surface of the ocean and the lights began to flicker back on. Everyone was looking out the windows in awe as water ran down in rivulets.

Weir turned to the room at large and spoke. **"I was hoping for another day. Looks like we just got a whole lot more than that. Let's not waste it."**

Soon everyone was once again trying to clean up the gate room (an endless duty). Someone named Ford had told everyone that they needed to clear at least two pieces of equipment from the area before they could leave which caused Bates to have a twitch near his left eye. He ended up having to assign different teams to organizing and documenting where everything was placed after some people had randomly moved things just so that they could go do their own thing.

Bates left Thomas with Hermione with orders to organize as much as they could while he went off to talk to Weir and Sheppard. He had not been the only one to notice that they were missing some people, including Sumner, and he needed to find out what was going on now that he was missing. They were still moving things around and documenting where everything had been moved to when Bates came back with a frown on his face.

"The last ZPM is depleted now, so there are no shields. Power is still an issue, but not enough that we have to leave immediately. Sumner and Collins were taken along with some of the villagers by some kind of dart that fits through the gate. The villagers call them the Wraith and apparently they like to feed on humans. Sheppard wants to go after them and they are looking for the address now."

No one said anything for a moment before Hermione scrunched up her face in disgust. "Well, that is absolutely lovely."

"Any new orders while we wait." Thomas asked with a pensive look on his face. Hermione could tell he was still thinking of the people that had been taken.

"Yep. We need to start looking into living quarters for everyone and making sure everything is secure." Bates looked around before he continued. "Apparently these people, the Athosians, will be staying with us now." He was clearly displeased at having new civilians to look after.

"So now we just have to find the best way to search the city?" Thomas looked down with a look of concentration.

"Well." Both Marines looked at her when she started to speak. "We could just use the map."

"You have a map?" Bates asked while raising one brow.

"I have a map." Hermione smiled at the relieved expressions on the men's faces as she pulled out her tablet. "I can transfer the information to your tablets; the only issue is that the labels are in Alteran. That is easy enough to translate, but I have not had a chance to update the map for English labels."

After a few moments of silence where they just looked at her in amazement, Bates spoke up. "Yeah, okay. You're with me." He grabbed her arm and pulled her over to where the rest of the military personnel that had been chosen for security teams were gathered. Thomas was the only one that was not eyeing her strangely.

"Okay, here is what we are going to do…" As Bates started to brief the others on their new orders, Hermione looked around. Oddly enough, she was pretty sure that she had just ended up with another two guy friends. Smiling a little as she sent out files to the different data pads in the group she decided that being called an egghead and accidently using someone for a pillow was much better than facing a troll when it came to making friends.

All in all, this was turning out a lot like her introduction into the wizarding world. One thing was different though, even with the 'bug infestation,' some species called the Wraith that wanted to eat them, and thinking that they were all going to drown, so far this was turning out to be still safer than Hogwarts.


End file.
